Dog killed on highway raises concerns for ARF member

Monday

Apr 8, 2013 at 9:00 AM

A Three Rivers man was outraged over the weekend as he reviewed in his mind the lack of help — and compassion — trying to remove a dead dog on U.S. 131.Tom Molter, an outspoken and active member of the Animal Rescue Fund of St. Joseph County, said he was stunned by the shortage of support and sympathy for the animal.

Jef Rietsma

A Three Rivers man was outraged over the weekend as he reviewed in his mind the lack of help — and compassion — trying to remove a dead dog on U.S. 131.Tom Molter, an outspoken and active member of the Animal Rescue Fund of St. Joseph County, said he was stunned by the shortage of support and sympathy for the animal.“I’m not talking about picking up wild animals, I’m talking about a dog that was someone’s pet,” Molter said. “A dog is a domesticated animal that deserves better treatment.”The dead dog was along the shoulder of northbound U.S. 131, about a mile north of North Main Street. It was killed Friday afternoon. A picture Molter enclosed in an email is too graphic for publication.Molter said the dog, which likely weighed at least 40 pounds, did not have a tag or collar.Even if it was a stray dog, Molter said, it deserved a dignified burial.“This dog didn’t deserve to die like this and as human beings, provisions should be in place to properly dispose of or bury her body,” Molter said. “She deserved some last act of decent human compassion and did not....we live together on this earth and as higher-functioning humans, we have the responsibility to do better and do what is right.”Molter said his attempts to work with the St. Joseph County Animal Control Department proved fruitless, as there is apparently no funding for dog-removal service, he said. Molter was surprised that, as a matter of public service, the department isn’t required to record pictures, type of dog, gender and color.“If someone calls about a lost dog, they would have information,” Molter said.He next tried the county’s Health Department, but found it doesn’t deal in or investigate deceased dogs. He ran into a dead end with central dispatch, and the Michigan Department of Transportation was not accessible after 3 p.m., Molter said.The Three Rivers Police Department told him the dog’s body was not in the city.“And even if it was, they don’t pick up dead dogs,” Molter said. “The law of human decency has been broken — to leave a dog exposed to the elements, public view, and a potential health and traffic hazard is just plain wrong.”He said taxpayers of St. Joseph County pay to have an Animal Control Department as a solution all animal-related issues. Sadly, he said, the departments he contacted classify a dead dog the same as a deer, raccoon or squirrel.“Shame on us as a society — I want a change,” Molter said. “This dog belonged to someone (and the) lazy, backward thinking and non-action is putting us back to the stone age.“It’s OK for mankind to use dogs in police work, lead the blind, service dogs, military dogs, drug-sniffing dogs, therapy dogs and guard dogs,” Molter continued, “but this county’s attitude is: ‘if they get hit by a vehicle, the hell with them, leave them lay to rot, only a dog.’”

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